Monday, January 12, 2009

The Top 10 Scariest Paintings of All Time

I'm doing something a bit different tonight. Since The Vault of Horror is devoted truly to all things horror, and not just movies and TV, I thought I'd take a look at the world of fine art, and how horror has been best represented there. With that in mind, I give you the most frightening works of art ever created! Continue on, if you dare, and enjoy the dark products of man's twisted imagination!

It's interesting that three of the ten paintings you chose are hanging in Madrid, where I live. The Goya and Bosch are in the Prado, whilst the Picaso is in the Reina Sofia modern art museum.

All are spectacular. The size of Guernica is incredible - it's a daunting sight taking up a whole wall of one of the rooms in the museum.

The Garden of Delights is also amazing, and one of a few pieces by Bosch in the Prado. I also like the seven deadly sins table he did.

Incidentally, and related to your horror-heavy metal thing, part of the top section (the city in flames) of the Garden of Earthly Delights panel was used as the album cover for Celtic Frost's "Into the Pandemonium" LP in the 80s. Of course, being Swiss they are also friends with Giger and he's actually done loads of work for bands, including Celtic Frost themselves, Danzig, Dead Kennedys, ELP....

Back to your list, the Blake painting is beautiful too. He's almost as good a painter as he is a poet, if you ask me. Absolutely love his stuff.

Don't worry, Garg was only kidding--a reference to the Top 50 Horror Movies list, in which I was criticized for not having anything recent. I'm jealous of your location--there's one Bosch here in CT, at the Yale Museum, and I've been meaning to go see it for a while.

B-Sol. The 3 main museums here in Madrid - Prado, Reina Sofia and Thyssen - are all amazing. Definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the area!

In my previous post I forgot to mention how much I love The Scream. Ever since I was at school and had to write some kind of narrative piece based on the picture I've been fascinated by it. So much so that I have a t-shirt, tie and mousepad of the pic!

Pope Innocent by Bacon is very very good and could maybe be a contender for the top 10, but I think B-Sol's list is great anyway.

Which horror film *should* be remade?

Like The Vault on Facebook

Welcome to the Vault....

I've been fascinated with horror ever since my parents let me watch The Exorcist at 8 years old (what were they thinking??) and I ran up to my bed screaming when Linda Blair's eyes rolled into the back of her head.Although it often gets a bad rap from "mainstream" critics and audiences alike, horror has often been the most creative and vibrant movie genre of all, from Nosferatu to Saw. Some of the finest motion pictures ever made are part of the horror genre, including Frankenstein, Psycho, The Shining and my personal all-time favorite, George Romero's Dawn of the Dead.This blog is the culmination of my 25-year love affair with all things blood and guts--so check back here often for news and opinion on the world of horror. And remember...